So wrote Victor Marchetti, a former high-ranking CIA official, in his book The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence. This is the first book the U.S. Government ever went to court to censor before publication. In this book, Marchetti tells us that there IS a “Cabal” that rules the world and that its holy men are the clandestine professionals of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Now, to set the stage for our discussion, I want to repeat some shocking statements, cold, hard facts of life:

The War on Terrorism is a LIE.

The pretext to wage this war has been created and executed by the Bush Reich and their minions which are merely the puppets of the Secret Cabal.

The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are the biggest frauds in American History.

The Bush Reich and the Mass Media continue to manipulate public opinion, to make their Fraud appear to be an indelible truth.

The American People have been misled from the very beginning regarding the causes and consequences of the September 11 “attack on America.”

The EVIDENCE, including MOUNTAINS OF OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS that get no Media play at all, confirms that the 9-11 event was part of the ongoing globalization plans of the Bush Reich, puppets of the Secret Cabal. The way they deal with this documentation is to pass laws to suppress it and to protect their illegitimate rule.

What I am saying isn’t new or original. Many of the intellectuals and writers in the U.S. and elsewhere are fully cognizant of the true state of affairs. The unfortunate thing is that the masses of ordinary people are completely under the influence of the Mass Media which promotes the New World Order agenda of the Military-Industrial Complex. If Peter Jennings or Dan Rather don’t say it, for them, it isn’t even real. They are duped and mind controlled by television talking heads.

One of the primary things that is NOT being addressed is the illegitimacy of the presence of George W. Bush in the White House. The people do not realize that there are EVIL – pathological – men in and behind this administration, and that America is NOT engaged in a War against Terrorism – America is engaged in a war of Global Conquest and international terrorism has been effectively created BY the Bush Reich as the excuse. This has been effectively exposed by Michel Chossudovsky, Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa:

Sustaining the Illusion of Democracy – The Bush administration requires “legitimacy” in the eyes of public opinion, namely, that in launching the War on Terrorism, it is acting in the best interests of society, with the full endorsement of the American people and with the backing of the “international community.”

To effectively build this “legitimacy,” the Bush administration not only needs to uphold the falsehoods behind the “war on terrorism,” it also needs to sustain the illusion that constitutional democracy continues to prevail.

Sustaining the “freedom and democracy rhetoric” is part of the process of building a totalitarian state. While “legitimate dissent” is encouraged, democracy requires that “civil liberties be balanced against public safety.” […]

We are at the juncture of the most important social struggle in world history, requiring an unprecedented degree of solidarity and commitment. America’s New War, which includes the “first strike” use of Nuclear Weapons, threatens the future of humanity as we know it. This is by no means an overstatement.

Some people think that the New World Order can be dealt with by developing new ideas, or by simply protesting against war. They think that the government policy will somehow adjust and respond to their concerns. They want dialogue, debate and discussion with our elected politicians. They want to talk about “reforms” and “alternatives.”

If the anti-war protesters continue to organize and march, they will only bring on us more “terrorist acts” so that the Bush Reich can further justify their agenda. Bush – and his controllers – WILL HAVE HIS WAR. (Added later: And he certainly did and is!) And if protest against it grows too loud, it will be silenced by new attacks that will justify it. Chossudovsky continues:

The Bush Administration through Dick Cheney, cut off any possibility of public inquiry when he initiated the Fear and Disinformation campaign with the following words: “I think that the prospects of a future attack on the U.S. are almost a certainty. […] It could happen tomorrow, it could happen next week, it could happen next year…” And he should know… Because, as we will see, Islamic Terrorists are not just a creation of the CIA back in “old times” who got out of control – they are an active, current, “intelligence asset.” And if there are going to be more “attacks,” the CIA will be “the first to know.”

The 9-11 Terrorists did not act in a vacuum. They were instruments in a carefully planned intelligence operation supported by Pakistan’s ISI, which owes its allegiance and existence to the CIA.

The purported 9-11 ringleader – Mohammed Atta – according to ABC news, was financed by “unnamed sources in Pakistan.” According to Agence France Presse and the Times of India, an official Indian intelligence report informs us that the 9-11 attacks were funded by money wired to Mohammed Atta from Pakistan, by Ahmad Umar Sheikh, under orders from Pakistani intelligence chief General Mahmoud Ahmad. The report said: “The evidence we have supplied to the U.S. is of a much wider range and depth than just one piece of paper linking a rogue general to some misplaced act of terrorism.” [Michel Chossudovsky]

Guess what? General Mahmoud Ahmad was in the U.S. on September 11.

Where was General Mahmoud on the morning of September 11, while Dubya was in Florida reading upside down books?

Why, the good general just happened to be having breakfast with Florida’s senator, Bob Graham – our [former] esteemed chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Also present at breakfast was Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S. Maleeha Lodhi. There were other members of the Senate and House Intelligence committees present.

Don’t you find it the least bit curious that so many darned bizarre things get done in Florida, or in connection to Florida? After all, it was in Florida that Bush stole the election. Florida is a “safe zone” for all kinds of nefarious activities because the Bush Brother is [was] governor here. It also looks like the Bush Reich have the Florida Senator in their pocket, and even if he votes against any of the legislation desired by the Bush Gang, you can bet it is all for show.

But let’s back up and look at some other interesting facts that may help to connect some of the dots between Mahmoud and George Bush.

King FAISAL AL-SAUD declared to the WASHINGTON POST on Sept. 17, 1969: “WE, THE SAUDI FAMILY, are cousins of the Jews: we entirely disagree with any Arab or Muslem Authority which shows any antagonism to the Jews; but we must live together with them in peace. Our country (ARABIA) is the Fountain head from where the first Jew sprang, and his descendants spread out all over the world.”

Among the most troubling of the “connections” of the 9-11 event, is the “hob-nobbing” of members of the Bush Reich with the Saudi Royal family all the while 15 of the alleged “hijackers” were Saudi nationals. As it happens, Osama bin Laden, the Western Media’s new “Boogie Man,” is also Saudi born. The recent “revelation” about the funding of some of the terrorists through the medium of an “innocent Saudi Princess” with “philanthropic tendencies” amounts, according to Michel Chossudovsky, to a Red Herring – an irrelevant topic that is presented in order to divert attention from the real issue: the connections between the Bush Reich and the Saudis. In order to come to some understanding of the problems we are facing, a little history assembled from the careful research of Michel Chossudovsky is in order.

In 1979, the CIA launched a covert operation in Afghanistan as a way of engaging Russia and destabilizing the Soviets by drawing them into an unwinnable conflict. The CIA used Pakistan’s military intelligence apparatus as a “go-between” so as to “cover” their own activities. Pakistan had a big bone to pick with Russia, and willingly assisted. Pakistan wanted to turn the Afghan Jihad into a war waged by all muslims against the Soviet Union. That suited the agenda of Zbigniew Brzezinski. The CIA sponsored guerrilla training that was integrated with the teachings of Militant Islam. Osama bin Laden was a recruit into this operation, and it is even possible that he didn’t know that his training, the funding, and the idealogy came straight from the CIA. In other words, Osama was an “intelligence asset,” as opposed to an “intelligence agent.” An “asset” is somebody whose ideas and activity can be manipulated from behind the scenes to serve a certain purpose even if they are not aware of the true puppet master.

So, Pakistan had a bone to pick, the CIA promised to help them to achieve their goals of breaking up the Soviet Union, and proceeded to pour money and expertise into Pakistan, which was then used to train tens of thousands of Muslim radicals in Pakistani Madrasahs.

Now, it is common knowledge that the U.S. and the CIA supported the Mujahideen. This was even discussed in the Congressional record as being a response to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. Everybody nodded their heads and said: “yes, that’s okay. Certainly we want to protect those poor Afghanis from the Russian bear eating them up.” What is not generally known – and little noted by the mainstream media, is that the CIA’s military-intelligence operation in Afghanistan had been launched PRIOR to the Soviet invasion. It was, in fact, designed to deliberately trigger a civil war, to engage the Soviet Union, and bring it down.

According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahideen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan on 24 Decempber 1979. But the reality, secretly guarded until now, is completely otherwise. Indeed, it was July 3, 1979, that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the President in which I explained to him that in my opinion, this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention. […]

In other words, when the Soviets justified their intervention by saying that there was a secret involvement of the United States in Afghanistan, they were telling the truth, but nobody in the West believed them. Brzezinski further said:

That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap… The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter: “We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam War. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire. [Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski]

And it was for that purpose – bringing the Soviet Union to its knees – that the Taliban was given aid by the CIA via Pakistan, that Islamic Fundamentalism was promoted, and arms and training were given to future terrorists.

While the “Islamic Jihad” – featured by the Bush administration as “a threat to America” – is blamed for the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, these same Islamic organizations constitute a key instrument of U.S. military-intelligence operations not only in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union, but also in India and China. While the Mujahideen are busy fighting on behalf of Uncle Sam, the FBI – operating as a U.S. based Police Force – is waging a domestic war against terrorism, operating in some respects independently of the CIA, which has – since the Soviet-Afghan war – supported international terrorism through its covert operations.

Confronted with the evidence and history of CIA covert operations since the Cold War era, the U.S. Administration can no longer deny its links to Osama. While the CIA admits that Osama bin Laden was an “intelligence asset” during the Cold War, the relationship is said to “go way back” to a bygone era.

According to the CIA, an “intelligence asset” – as distinct from a bona fide “intelligence agent” – need not be committed to the pursuit of U.S. interests. Rather, it is meant to act and/or behave in a way which serves U.S. foreign policy interests. Intelligence assets are invariably unaware of the precise functions and roles they are performing on behalf of the CIA on the geopolitcal Chessboard. In turn, for these covert operations to be “successful,” the CIA will use various proxy and front organizations such as Pakistan’s extensive military intelligence apparatus. Most post-September 11 news reports consider that these Osame-CIA links belong to the “bygone era” of the Soviet-Afghan war. They are invariably viewed as irrelevant to an understanding of the September 11 crisis. Lost in the barrage of recent history, the role of the CIA, in supporting and developing international terrorist organizations during the Cold War and its aftermath, is casually ignored or downplayed in the Western Media.

A blatant example of post-September 11 media distortion is the “blowback” thesis: “Intelligence assets” are said to “have gone against their sponsors; what we’ve created blows back in our face.” In a display of twisted logic, the U.S. government and the CIA are portrayed as the ill-fated victims. [War and Globalisation, Chossudovsky, 2002]

In other words, the CIA, the Bush Reich, the Media – everybody and his brother – are clucking and nodding about that bad Osama who “went against his father” and tricked his CIA/Pakistan intell handlers. Nothing could be further from the truth. The CIA has NEVER SEVERED ITS TIES TO THE Islamic Militant Network.

What is more, Congressional documents confirm that members of the Senate and House of Representatives KNOW about the relationship of the current administration to international terrorism. They are fully cognizant of the links between the Bush gang and Osama. They know exactly that Osama was a pawn in the hands the Clinton administration, and now the Bush administration. They also KNOW that the “War Against Terrorism” is really a War against the American People by their own government.

Republicans and Democrats have given their full consent to Bush and the gang to take America apart. In other words, a major war in Central Asia, supposedly to “crush” international terrorism, has been launched by the U.S. government, which created “international terrorism” as a part of its foreign policy. The whole thing has been fabricated to act on America exactly as it was fabricated to act on Russia as described above.

Again let me repeat: The War on Terrorism is a LIE and the pretext to wage this war – the “terrorist attacks” on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon have been created and executed by the Bush Reich and their minions.

This is the single most important thing for anybody in the world to discover and understand today.

The September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon are the biggest frauds in American History.

Manipulation of thought and public opinion is historically, the way masses of people are controlled with the least amount of effort. It was true in ancient times, it is true today. Machiavelli described the ways and means of accomplishing such control in great detail, and he was merely describing what he observed as the Standard Operating Procedure of his day. If anybody thinks things have changed, think again. And just as there were “clappers” planted in the audience of any play or political rally or other forum where masses of people gathered, so are “clappers” planted in our world in the form of the Mass Media and “professional debunkers”, web trolls, fake polls, and so on. What this means, of course, is that WORK must be done to discover the TRUTH of any given situation. And that is, of course, what most people do NOT want to do. As Bertrand Russell noted:

Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth, more than ruin, more even than death….Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.

And thinking is most definitely what the Control System wishes to suppress. And they do this by “debunkery.” Debunkery’s chief tool is to call anything to be debunked: “Conspiracy Theory,” pronounced with a sneer of contempt.

Let me repeat the opening remarks one more time:

There exists in our world today a powerful and dangerous secret cult.

Marchetti tells us that there IS a “Cabal” that rules the world and that its holy men are the clandestine professionals of the Central Intelligence Agency.

In our opinion, the CIA is but one “arm” of the cult, just as Benedictines were but one order of the Catholic Church. To borrow from, and paraphrasing, Marchetti:

This cult is patronized and protected by the highest level government officials in the world. It’s membership is composed of those in the power centers of government, industry, commerce, finance, and labor. It manipulates individuals in areas of important public influence – including the academic world and the mass media. The Secret Cult is a global fraternity of a political aristocracy whose purpose is to further the political policies of persons or agencies unknown. It acts covertly and illegally.

And we are seeing it happen before our very eyes!

Now, for anybody who has been subjected to the contempt and derision of the “professional debunkers,” please notice that the above is what is being said by an insider. And there are many insiders who say similar things once they have escaped to the outside. And also notice that this insider was censored. People only seek to keep secrets when revealing those secrets will harm them in some way. And in the case of the current administration, the biggest secret they want to keep is the Truth about the Events of September 11, 2001. Because it is upon this “event” that everything else that has followed is based!

Without 9-11 there would be no passage of laws abrogating the Constitution.

Without 9-11, there would be no talk of War.

Without 9-11, Bush would probably be facing criminal charges for rigging an election in cahoots with his brother Jeb, Katharine Harris and Bob Graham and others.

Without 9-11, Bush would not have been able to rig the mid-term election, which most certainly happened, because it is hardly likely that the voters turned out in such numbers because they were PLEASED with the current state of affairs.

In 1958, Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World in which he stated:

The older dictators fell because they never could supply their subjects with enough bread, enough circuses, enough miracles and mysteries. Nor did they possess a really effective system of mind-manipulation.

Under a scientific dictator, education will really work – with the result that most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution. There seems to be no good reason why a thoroughly scientific dictatorship should ever be overthrown.

Our world is currently managed by a VERY “scientific dictator,” and Bush is only its puppet.

“We are on the verge of global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order.” [David Rockefeller, Statement to the United aNations Business Council, 1994, quoted by Michel Chossudovsky]

Chossudovsky points out that there are two facts that we must always keep in mind:

1) The conspirators are working to convey the illusion of democracy. They “fabricate dissent.” In other words, they must create and finance their own political opposition. In order to appear legitimate, they must actively encourage the type of “criticism” which does not challenge “their right to rule.”

2) The 9-11 Terrorists did not act in a vacuum. They were instruments in a carefully planned intelligence operation supported by Pakistan’s ISI, which owes its allegiance and existence to the CIA.

Both of these factors play into the comment made by David Rockefeller quoted above. They are part of the “right major crisis” which has been created and implemented in order that the NATIONS will accept the New World Order. And notice that the “New World Order” is not anything like the many prognosticators of the past 50 years suspected. It is not “out there” in the form of the Catholic Church or the European Union. It is right here, at home, in the body politic of the Bush Reich.

The question is, of course, what was Rockefeller referring to above in his remark “We are on the verge of global transformation…”?

The “standard answer” that the Debunkers would like us to believe is that this probably refers to more or less the development of science so that a “global community” is desirable, and also that communication and exchange on a global scale would mandate a global ruling council to coordinate everything.

That’s a reasonable explanation, right? Sounds good to me. I liked it for years.

However, some questions about a few interesting subjects that I had almost twenty years ago led me to understand that not only is nothing as it seems, it never has been. And, when we consider the remarks of President Woodrow Wilson about “a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive…” that even the most powerful men on the planet speak about it only in whispers, we just might think we have a bit of a problem here on the Big Blue Marble (BBM).

Of course, part of the art of setting up diversionary information to cover up what is really going on consists in attributing the activities of the Bush Gang to all sorts of monetary motives. To many researchers, it’s a matter of oil and greed. And certainly, at some level, this must be true. There are most definitely those individuals on the chess-board who believe that what they are doing is going to put power and money into their hands and this fiction is undoubtedly promoted from the inside of the insiders in order to motivate their minions and keep them in line.

But, when you consider the fact that economics – as it relates to money or valuable goods – is a completely artificial system, and when you consider the facts about oil and energy, you come to a sort of full stop because those answers no longer work.

Playing games with the economy in order to make more money is a simple matter at the levels of power we are discussing. Diplomatic and financial deals to gain control of oil and resources is also a simple matter of exchanges of money and power at those levels.

Those who propose that wars are fomented to redistribute power and resources are missing the obvious fact that all of that can be easily accomplished via the simple “carrot and stick” method of diplomacy.

In other words, everything that is being played out on the world stage of politics and power and greed is all a FACADE. It is a PLAY put on for the benefit of the MASSES of humanity.

The fact that the entire 9-11 Event was a creation of the Secret Cult which counts among its lower echelon members George Bush and his Gang of Warmongers, we notice above all other things that it seems that the Secret Cult is driving Bush and the Gang according to a SCHEDULE. Michel Chossudovsky writes:

The “war on terrorism” and the development of the authoritarian State are occurring at the outset of a huge global economic depresssion marked by the downfall of the State institutions, mounting unemployment, the collapse in living standards in all major regions of the world, including Western Europe and North America, and the outbreak of famines over large areas.

At a global economic level, this depression could be far more devastating than that of the 1930s. Moreover, the war has not only unleashed a massive shift out of civilian economic activities into the military-industrial complex, it has also accelerated the demise of the welfare state in most Western countries.

Five days before the terrorist assaults on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, President Bush stated almost prophetically:

I have repeatedly said that only time to use Social Security money is in times of war, times of recession, or times of severe emergency. And I mean that. [September 6, 2001]

The recession and war buzzwords are being used to mould U.S. public opinion into accepting the pilfering of the Social Security fund to pay the producers of weapons of mass destruction – i.e. a massive redirection of the nation’s resources towards the military industrial complex. [Michel Chossudovsky]

We have to understand here that Chossudovsky is a professor of economics. He is very astute and he sees much deeper than the average thinker. But he has not taken certain other factors into account, and so his remarks about the “outbreak of famines” gets lost for the average reader in the economic considerations.

One has to wonder just where following THAT remark might lead?

In the strictest of material terms, it might be thought that these facts are acting on the Bush Reich in a certain way: they wish simply to decimate large numbers of human beings for the sake of “economics.” They are aware that in a “let them eat cake” society, what the inevitable results of millions of hungry people can be: Madame Guillotine for the Elite. And so, to prevent the rolling of their own heads on the block, they are making a pre-emptive strike to sustain their own controls. After all, in a world without enough food for its people, what good is oil and money?

But again, even that consideration does not help us to deal with the obvious TIME element – the SCHEDULE. Bush has a series of dates by which he MUST accomplish certain things, and so far, nothing has gotten in his way for longer than a day or two. Even if he comes across as a moron or crazy or a psychopath, make no mistake about it: he has access to data that the rest of us do NOT have. And this data is what is driving the SCHEDULE. There IS an “EMERGENCY,” and Bush and the Gang KNOW about it. Let me remind you again that following the trail of logic leads us to understand that this “emergency” cannot be merely a desire for more money or more oil.

And so we have an idea that this “event” that David Rockefeller mentioned -“We are on the verge of global transformation…” and we find a deeper meaning to the comments of President Woodrow Wilson about “a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive…”

A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.

The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies.

The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents. ‘Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,’ concludes the Pentagon analysis. ‘Once again, warfare would define human life.’

So, to recapitulate: if we do the research, if the mountain of government documentation is examined, we discover that the Militant Islamic groups are very likely created and funded by the CIA. The current U.S. foreign policy is NOT geared towards curbing Islamic fundamentalism – Radical Islam – it is designed to promote it, to inflame it, and to bait it to attack.

The development of radical Islam in the wake of September 11, in the Middle East and Central Asia, is consistent with Washington’s hidden agenda. They plan to sustain rather than combat terrorism with a view to destabilizing societies around the world and to prevent the creation and growth of possible genuine social movements that might combat the New World Order plans of the Bush Reich. You can bet that the CIA continues to support the development of Islamic Fundamentalism, Christian Fundamentalism, Jewish Fundamentalism, and New Age Fundamentalism mainly through COINTELPRO, though not exclusively.

In the short term, Fundamentalism creates social and ethnic divisiveness. It makes it impossible for large groups of people to organize against the New World Order of the Bush Reich. We are, indeed, experiencing a Global COINTELPRO program that has something for everyone – the Devil’s Supermarket of religions and beliefs, so to say. These organizations often foment “opposition to Bush” or the “American Agenda” in a way designed by the CIA handlers so that it does not constitute any real threat to the Bush Reich’s main, global agenda.

And this brings us again to the ONLY thing that can be effectively utilized to stop the Juggernaut of the Bush Reich: TRUTH. The truth of their complicity in the 9-11 event.

Once the people understand that they are being hoodwinked, induced to support a LIE, that Bush and the Gang are Wolves in Sheep’s clothing, that we have all been led down the primrose path just like Little Red Riding Hood and that the Wolf disguised as Grandmother is about to swallow us whole, only then will the people just simply refuse to participate in this madness, and only then will we have the opportunity to discuss other alternatives to the future that Bush and the Gang are planning on creating for all of humanity.

And so, after a bit of analysis of the situation, we can see that the primary thing that is NOT being addressed is the illegitimacy of the presence of George W. Bush in the White House and WHY that fraud was perpetrated.

Everyone in the U.S. went around in a daze during the election “scandal.” Everyone asked “why is this happening?” And now it all begins to make sense. The people do not realize that there are EVIL men behind this administration, and that America is NOT engaged in a War against Terrorism – America is engaged in a war of Global Conquest and international terrorism has been effectively created BY the Bush Reich as the excuse to decimate the human population on this planet.

People can only be UNIFIED by the TRUTH of 9-11 being known to everyone from the smallest child in kindergarten to the oldest recipient of Social Security.

The Bush Administration, aided by the Mass Media, have worked very hard to eliminate any possibility of public inquiry into 9-11 or the election fraud. They are using Fear and Disinformation to control the masses. We are told almost daily that Osama and other terrorists are under the bed. And you can be sure that any terrorists that are actually found under our beds will have been put there by Bush and the CIA.

On May 16th, 2002, The New York Post dropped a “bombshell” in its headline: BUSH KNEW!

As Michel Chossudovsky points out, what this was designed to do was act as a “red herring.” It was an “irrelevant topic” presented to divert attention away from the real issue. Because, of course, the real issue were the many questions being asked not only about the strike on the Pentagon that was questionable in more ways than one, but also the little leaks here and there that suggested that there was something going on behind the scenes. So, in order to completely divert suspicion, the Screaming Headlines were produced, got everybody’s attention, and then the media talking heads just explained everything away.

Instead of focusing on direct culpability as one might think was suggested by the headlines, the discussions focused on the many “warnings” and “clues” of “possible terrorist attacks.” And of course, these were all explained away as a “failure of intelligence” and “how could Bush possibly know what was going to happen?” The lame explanation was given that “yes, the FBI and the CIA knew something was cooking,” but they “failed to connect the dots.” And then, the apology given by House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt: “This is not blame placing… We support the President on the war against terrorism – have and will. But we’ve got to do better in preventing terrorist attacks.”

And so, the Mass Media distracted everyone’s attention away from the total idea of political deception by a pre-emptive apologia. Nothing at all was said about the years and years of ongoing political deception, the manipulations and activities of the CIA, the connection of the CIA to Osama Bin Laden and most especially NOT the link between Al Qaeda and Pakistan to the CIA right to the Oval Office of the White House and the Planning Rooms of the Pentagon.

It is certainly true that the rank and file of FBI agents probably are not privy to the details of the CIA’s role in creating and driving the “Militant Islamic Network,” but at the upper levels of the agencies, it is certainly known. And again, it is certainly WELL KNOWN among the members of Congress and the House of Representatives. So, the New York Post bomb managed to underscore the weakness of the FBI, the “failure of intelligence,” and ignored completely the basis of the Islamic Militant Groups – the CIA.

Which brings us back to General Mahmoud Ahmad having breakfast with Bob Graham and others on the morning of 9-11.

On May 16, shortly after the New York Post bomb was dropped, Michel Chossudovsky informs us that Condoleezza Rice held a press conference to address the issue. At this press conference something very interesting happened: an Indian journalist asked Ms. Rice a question and in the public transcripts of this interview, it went as follows:

Q: Are you aware of the reports at the time that (inaudible) was in Washinton on September 11. And on September 10, $100,000 was wired from Pakistan to these groups here in thie area? And while he was here, was he meeting with you or anybody in the administration?

Rice: I have not seen that report, and he was certainly not meeting with me.

Now, what was excluded in the publicly released transcripts of this press conference? What was actually IN those brackets where we see the word “inaudible”?

Here is the copy of the Federal News Service, May 16, 2002, Special White House Briefing:

Q: Are you aware of the reports at the time that THE ISI CHIEF was in Washington…

Back up now – feets don’t fail me – this is a real clue here and we have Michel Chossudovsky to thank for this one.

WHY is this being hidden by the media? WHY is the designation of the individual who was in Washington being covered up in this stupid little gaffe – this “(inaudible)” when it was clearly audible and heard by others and recorded?

1) The purported 9-11 ringleader – Mohammed Atta – according to ABC news, was financed by “unnamed sources in Pakistan.” According to Agence France Presse and the Times of India, an official Indian intelligence report informs us that the 9-11 attacks were funded by money wired to Mohammed Atta from Pakistan, by Ahmad Umar Sheikh, under orders from Pakistani intelligence chief General Mahmoud Ahmad. The report said: “The evidence we have supplied to the U.S. is of a much wider range and depth than just one piece of paper linking a rogue general to some misplaced act of terrorism.”

2) General Mahmoud Ahmad was in the U.S. on September 11. He arrived on the 4th on a “routine visit.” It was confirmed by news sources that Ahmad met with a number of U.S. officials.

And we come back to that most interesting item: On the morning of September 11, General Mahmoud Ahmad was having breakfast with Florida’s senator, Bob Graham – chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Also present at breakfast was Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S. Maleeha Lodhi. There were other members of the Senate and House Intelligence committees present. And that leads us right back to the Oval Office of the White House. Suddenly, all the pieces begin to fall into place.

When the news [of the attacks on the World Trade Center] came, the two Florida lawmakers who lead the House and Senate intelligence committees were having breakfast with the head of the Pakistani intelligence service. Rep. Porter Goss, R-Sanibel, Sen. Bob Graham and other members of the House Intelligence Committee were talking about terrorism issues with the Pakistani official when a member of Goss’ staff handed a note to Goss, who handed it to Graham. “We were talking about terrorism, specifically terrorism generated from Afghanistan,” Graham said.

Mahmoud Ahmed, director general of Pakistan’s intelligence service was “very empathetic, sympathetic to the people of the United States,” Graham said.

Goss could not be reached Tuesday. He was whisked away with much of the House leadership to an undisclosed “secure location”. Graham, meanwhile, participated in late-afternoon briefings with top officials from the CIA and FBI.” [Stuart News Company Press Journal, Vero Beach, FL, September 12, 2001 as quoted by Michel Chossudovsky]

Notice above that Goss and “much of the House Leadership” was “whisked away to an undisclosed secure location. This fact stands in stark contrast to the handling of President Bush, the Commander in Chief, who apparently, continued to dilly dally in an unsecured elementary school, careless of his own safety as well as the safety of the children. Even if Condoleezza Rice was telling the truth about not meeting with the Pakistani ISI chief, she certainly knew something because she did not even suggest that the Secret Service ought to immediately secure the person of the President whether he wanted to be secured or not. As is noted on an exhaustive Timeline of Bush’s activities on 9-11:

Secret Service agents burst into Vice President Cheney’s White House office. They carried him under his arms – nearly lifting him off the ground – and propelled him down the steps into the White House basement and through a long tunnel toward an underground bunker. Accounts of when this happened vary greatly, from 9:06 [New York Times, 9/16/01 (B), Telegraph, 12/16/01] to after 9:30. [CBS, 9/11/02, Washington Post, 1/27/02] Cheney’s own account is vague and contradictory. [Meet the Press, 9/16/01] The one eyewitness account, by White House photographer David Bohrer, said it happened just after 9:00. [ABC, 9/14/02 (B)] It’s easy to see why the White House would have wanted this event placed at a later time (after Bush’s initial statement to the nation rather than after the second crash) to avoid the obvious question: if Cheney was immediately evacuated, why wasn’t Bush? [An Interesting Day: President Bush’s Movements and Actions on 9/11 By Allan Wood and Paul Thompson May 9, 2003]

The facts seem to suggest that Bush – and his advisors and his National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice KNEW about the attacks even before he began his photo-op at the elementary school:

In some accounts, “President Bush had emerged from his car and was shaking hands with local officials standing outside the school when Chief of Staff Andrew Card sidled up to him with the news.” [CBS, 11/1/02] Bush later recalled that it was Card who first notified him: “‘Here’s what you’re going to be doing; you’re going to meet so-and-so, such-and-such.’ Then Andy Card said, ‘By the way, an aircraft flew into the World Trade Center.'” [Washington Times, 10/7/02]

At a press conference later that day, Press Secretary Ari Fleischer also claimed it was Andy Card who first informed him, “as the President finished shaking hands in a hallway of school officials.” [Knoxville News Sentinel, 9/11/01]

In other accounts, it was advisor Karl Rove who first told Bush. According to photographer Eric Draper, who was standing nearby, Rove rushed up, took Bush aside in a corridor inside the school and said the cause of the crash was unclear. Bush replied, “What a horrible accident!” Bush also suggested the pilot may have had a heart attack. [Daily Mail, 9/8/02]

Dan Bartlett, White House Communications Director, says he was there when Bush was told: “[Bush] being a former pilot, had kind of the same reaction, going, was it bad weather? And I said no, apparently not.” [ABC News, 9/11/02] A reporter who was standing nearby later said, “From the demeanor of the President, grinning at the children, it appeared that the enormity of what he had been told was taking a while to sink in.” [Daily Mail, 9/8/02]

One account explicitly says that Rove told Bush the World Trade Center had been hit by a large commercial airliner. [Telegraph, 12/16/01] However, Bush later remembered Rove saying it appeared to be an accident involving a small, twin-engine plane. [Washington Post, 1/27/02, MSNBC, 9/02] In yet another account, Blake Gottesman, Bush’s personal assistant, while giving the president some final instructions as they walked to the school, remarked, “Andy Card says, ‘By the way, an aircraft flew into the World Trade Center.'” [Fighting Back: The War on Terrorism – From Inside the Bush White House, by Bill Sammon, 10/02, pp. 41-42]

Booker principal Gwen Tose-Rigell was waiting for Bush outside the school. “The limousine stops and the president comes out. He walks toward me. I’m standing there in a lineup; there are about five people. He walks over and says he has to make a phone call, and he’ll be right back.” [MSNBC, 09/02, Telegraph, 12/16/01] The phone call was with National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice. From a room with secure communications, Rice updated Bush on the situation. [Christian Science Monitor, 9/17/01, Time, 9/12/01]

The fact that Bush immediately said he had to make an important call strongly suggests he was told about the situation while in the motorcade. But some accounts have Andrew Card saying to Bush as he gets out of his limousine, “Mr. President, you really need to take this phone call,” thereby implying that Card knows what’s going on, but Bush doesn’t. [St. Petersburg Times, 9/8/02 (B)]

As National Security Advisor, Rice had to have had as much information as anyone. By the time she spoke to Bush, she must have known that three planes had been hijacked and that the country was under attack. We know very little about the conversation – only that Rice later claimed, “[Bush] said, what a terrible, it sounds like a terrible accident. Keep me informed.” [ABC News, 9/11/02] One reporter noted: “Bush did not appear preoccupied [after the phone call] . There was no sign that Rice had just told [him] about the first attack [on the World Trade Center].” [Cox News, 9/12/01 (B)]

Tose-Rigell was then summoned to a room to talk with Bush: “He said a commercial plane has hit the World Trade Center, and we’re going to go ahead and go on, we’re going on to do the reading thing anyway.” [AP, 8/19/02 (D)]

One local reporter notes that at this point, “He could and arguably should have left Emma E. Booker Elementary School immediately, gotten onto Air Force One and left Sarasota without a moment’s delay … But he didn’t.” [Sarasota Herald-Tribune, 9/12/01 (B)]

The only possible excuse is that Bush was completely clueless as to what was happening. Sure enough, at a press conference on the evening of 9/11, Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was asked by a reporter, “And then this morning, when Andy Card told him about the first accident, was Andy Card or Condi Rice or any of those aware of the hijackings? What did they know when they –” Fleischer cut in and replied, “No, at that point they were not.” [Knoxville News Sentinel, 9/11/01]

So supposedly, 15 minutes after the first crash, none of Bush’s aides, not even Rice back in Washington, DC, knew a thing about the hijackings that had been reported to NORAD 20 minutes earlier? This simply is not plausible. [An Interesting Day: President Bush’s Movements and Actions on 9/11 By Allan Wood and Paul Thompson May 9, 2003]

Getting back to the breakfast meeting from which much of the House Leadership was whisked away to an undisclosed secure location, the Miami Herald, on September 16, 2002, confirmed the meeting, and included the fact that General Ahmad also met with Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Graham said the Pakistani intelligence official with whom he met, a top general in the government, was forced to stay all week in Washington because of the shutdown of air traffic. “He was marooned here, and I think that gave Secretary of State Powell and others in the administration a chance to really talk with him,” Graham said. [Miami Herald as quoted by Michel Chossudovsky]

In fact, the News of Pakistan reported the visit BEFORE September 11:

ISI Chief Lt. Gen. Mahmoud’s week-long presence in Washinton has triggered speculation about the agenda of his mysterious meetings at the Pentagon and National Security Council. Officially, he is on a routine visit in return for CIA Director George Tenet’s earlier visit to Islamabad. Official sources confirm that he met Tenet this week. He also held long parleys with unspecified officials at the White House and the Pentagon. But the most important meeting was with Marc Grossman, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. One can safely guess that the discussions must have centred around Afghanistan … and Osama bin Laden. What added interest to his visit is the history of such visits. Last time Ziauddin Butt, Mahmoud’s predecessor, was here, during Nawaz Sharif’s goernment, the domestic politics turned topsy-turvy within days. [Amir Mateen, News Pakistan, September 10, 2001 as quoted by Michel Chossudovsky]

Nawaz Sharif was overthrown by General Pervez Musharaf. General Mahmoud Ahmad, who became the head of the ISI, played a key role in the military coup. [Michel Chossudovsky]

It was in the news (even if the major media sources deliberately ignored it), so how come Condoleezza Rice didn’t know about it?

The existence of an ISI-Osama-Taliban-CIA-US government axis is a matter of public record. However, what was NOT expected – obviously – was the revelation by Indian intelligence – that the $100,000 bux was paid to Mohammed Atta on the orders of the guy having breakfast with Bob Graham – the same guy who was meeting with all the likely conspirators.

The Bush administration’s relations with pakistan’s ISI – including the week of meetings and “consultations” with General Mahmoud Ahmad prior to September 11 – raise not only the issue of “cover-up” but of DIRECT COMPLICITY. At the very least, this suggests that key individuals within the U.S. military-intelligence establishment knew about the attack in some detail and failed to act. At worst, it suggests that the many irregularities noted about the behavior of Bush and his gang prior to, during, and following the 9-11 attacks were indicative of direct participation in the planning of the events, even to the “piggy-backing” of the drone plane attack on the Pentagon to divert suspicion away from the U.S. military.

What is crystal clear, however, is that this war is not a “campaign against international terrorism.” It is a war of conquest with devastating consequences for the future of humanity. and the American people have been consciously and deliberately deceived by their government. [Chossudovsky]

Another interesting note is the comment that the last time the ISI chief of Pakistan was in Washington, the “domestic politics turned topsy turvy within days.” Did the CIA help General Pervez Musharraf to overthrow Nawaz Sharif and now the favor was being returned? Just a little matter of the transfer of $100,000 bux – thirty pieces of silver to betray the American people?

Now, let’s back up just a short while before the September 11 attack. Michel Chossudovsky reveals that, on September 9, the leader of the Northern Alliance, Commander Ahmad Shah Masood, was assassinated. The Northern Alliance informed the Bush administration that the ISI of Pakistan was implicated in the murder.

However, if you do a web search for articles on this matter, you will find that the Western Media repeatedly says that Masood was assassinated by “Arab militants” – very often specifically naming Al Qaeda.

What is omitted is the official statement: A “Pakistani ISI- Osama – Taliban axis” [was responsible for] plotting the assassination by two Arab suicide bombers. […] “We believe that this is a triangle between Osama bin Laden, ISI, which is the intelligence section of the Pakistani Army, and the Taliban.” [The Northern Alliance Statement released on September 14, 2001, quoted by Reuters News Service on September 15, 2001]

So, the complicity of the ISI in relation to Osama and the Taliban IS a matter of Public Record and is also in the Congressional transcripts.

However, what we see on the surface is that General Mahmoud, the head of the ISI, was having breakfast with Bob Graham in Florida on the morning of September 11, and that a couple of days later – with full awareness of the connections between ISI and Taliban – including the assassination of Masood just two days earlier – the Bush Administration announced that it would “directly cooperate” with Pakistan’s ISI. Isn’t that just a little bit like asking the fox to watch the henhouse? How did they DO that?

It was simple. The Western Mass Media, in full support of the Bush Reich (as is evident throughout the events of the past 14 months) remained completely silent on the role of Pakistan’s ISI, even to the extent of inserting an (inaudible) in the published text of the question asked of Condoleezza Rice on May 16, 2002. It was NOT a coincidence that this question was addressed by an INDIAN journalist. So it was that the cover-up of ISI’s position in the Taliban-Osama axis was underway and America declared Pakistan to be the “friend and ally” of America in those dark days following 9-11. And how did they explain it?

U.S. officials had sought cooperation from Pakistan [precisely] because it is the original backer of the Taliban, the hard-line Islamic leadership of Afghanistan accused by Washington of harboring bin Laden. [Reuters, September 13, 2001 as revealed by Michel Chossudovsky]

Never mind, of course, that just two days before 9-11, ISI was implicated in the assassination of Masood. Of course, not everybody was asleep on this one. At a State Department Briefing on September 13, a journalist asked Colin Powell:

[Does] the U.S. see Pakistan as an ally or, as the “Patterns of Global Terrorism” pinted out, “a place where terrorist groups get training.” Or is it a mixture?

Powell’s reply: We have provided to the Pakistani government a specific list of things we think would be useful for them to work on with us, and we’ll be discussing that list with the President of Pakistan later this afternoon. [Michel Chossudovsky]

“Patterns of Global Terrorism” just happens to be the U.S.’s own publication… and the journalist was quoting it… This document confirms that the government of President Pervez Musharraf was part of the international terrorism “axis” saying:

Credible reporting indicates that Pakistan is providing the Taliban with material, fuel, funding, technical assistance, and military advisers. Pakistan has not prevented large numbers of Pakistani nationals from moving into Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban. Islamabad also failed to take effective steps to curb the activities of certain madrasas, or religious schools, that serves as recruiting grounds for terrorism.

The designation of state sponsors of terrorism by the United States–and the imposition of sanctions–is a mechanism for isolating nations that use terrorism as a means of political expression. US policy seeks to pressure and isolate state sponsors so they will renounce the use of terrorism, end support to terrorists, and bring terrorists to justice for past crimes.

The United States is committed to holding terrorists and those who harbor them accountable for past attacks, regardless of when the acts occurred. The US Government has a long memory and will not simply expunge a terrorist’s record because time has passed. The states that choose to harbor terrorists are like accomplices who provide shelter for criminals. They will be held accountable for their “guests'” actions. International terrorists should know, before they contemplate a crime, that they cannot hunker down in safehaven for a period of time and be absolved of their crimes. [published April 30, 2001, reported by Michel Chossudovsky]

Now, isn’t that just a peach!

In April of 2001, the U.S. declares Pakistan to be a “state sponsor” of terrorism, declares in its own publication that “The states that choose to harbor terrorists are like accomplices who provide shelter for criminals. They will be held accountable for their “guests'” actions, and on September 11, the head of the ISI – ostensibly one of those individuals who one might think is being described above- has breakfast with Bob Graham after a week of closed door “consultations” with all kinds of fun folks in Washington. In short, the Bush Reich was hunkered down in a huddle with those who were directly – right up until two days before the 9-11 attacks – aiding and abetting “international terrorism” – and then they go and announce, two days after the attack on the World Trade Center, that “U.S. officials had sought cooperation from Pakistan [precisely] because it is the original backer of the Taliban, the hard-line Islamic leadership of Afghanistan accused by Washington of harboring bin Laden” !!!?

What happened to: “The US Government has a long memory and will not simply expunge a terrorist’s record because time has passed” and “The United States is committed to holding terrorists and those who harbor them accountable for past attacks, regardless of when the acts occurred” ????

Dubya announced on September 13th that the Pakistan government had agreed “to cooperate and to participate as we hunt down those people who committed this unbelievable, despicable act on America.”

Watch it Georgie: Your nose is growing.

On the same day, September 13, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf agreed with Washington that General Mahmoud Ahmad would be sent to meet with the Taliban and negotiate with them to turn over that bad, bad boy, Osama bin Laden. So, our good buddy General Ahmad, being sufficiently fortified by his breakfast with Bob Graham, left immediately to “deliver the ultimatum” to the Taliban – and no doubt some cash and a pat on the back.

At American urging, Ahmad travelled […] to Kandahar, Afghanistan. There he delivered the bluntest of demands. Turn over bin Laden without conditions, he told Taliban leader Mohammad Omar, or face certain war with the United States and its allies. [Washington Post, September 23, 2001, referenced by Michel Chossudovsky]

Yeah right.

Of course the “negotiations” failed. They were intended to fail. How can you have a war if Osama gets turned over??? If he had been extradited, there would have been no pretext for the “war against terrorism.” There would be no pretext for the current beating of the drums of war against Iraq. Heck, if Osama had been turned over, there would be no possibility that we could all be terrorized with the regular and repeated Osama Is Under Your Bed routine.

Well, everything was going along just swimmingly – the conspirators had everything under control… until… On Sunday, October 7th, just prior to the bombing of Afghanistan, General Ahmed was removed as head of ISI.

What happened to our good Breakfast Buddy?!

Apparently, at some point in the days before the bombing of Afghanistan, something extremely devastating occurred. We get a “hint” in the following:

As to September 11th, federal authorities have told ABC News they have now tracked more than $100,000 from banks in Pakistan, to two banks in FLORIDA, to accounts held by suspected hijack ring leader Mohammed Atta. As well, this morning, Time Magazine is reporting that some of that money came in the days just before the attack and can be traced directly to people connected to Osama bin Laden. It’s all part of what has been a successful FBI effort so far to close in on the hijackers’ high commander, the money men, the planners and the mastermind. [Statement of Brian Ross reporting on information conveyed to him by the FBI, ABC News, This Week, September 30, 2001, referenced by Michel Chossudovsky]

Now, just what the heck happened here? This statement was made on September 30, and it alludes to the fact that “just days before” the 9-11 attack took place, money was sent from a bank in Pakistan to two banks in FLORIDA.

The statement by ABC news makes the most intriguing remark that the money trail leads right to the “hijackers’ high commander, the money men, the planners and the mastermind.”

And we already know that General Mahmoud was having breakfast in Florida on the morning of 9-11 and that he had been in Washington and other places since September 4th. Again we notice that Florida is the “center of action” of a LOT of very strange things. It was the center of action for the rigging of the election that put Bush in the White House. It was where Bush was physically located at the time of the 9-11 attacks. It was where the hijackers were said to have lived and trained. It also happens to be the state that is governed by Dubya’s brother Jeb. Lot of coincidences going on there, don’t you think?

But again, the ABC report was important for what it omitted: it made NO mention whatsoever of the ISI or General Mahmoud Ahmad.

But apparently, Bob Graham’s grits n’ grub partner was NOW an embarrassment and had to be ditched in a hurry!

Why?

Because on the 9th of October the Times of India sez:

While the Pakistani Inter Services Public Relations claimed that former ISI director-general Lt-Gen Mahmud Ahmad sought retirement after being superseded on Monday, the truth is more shocking. Top sources confirmed here on Tuesday, that the general lost his job because of the “evidence” India produced to show his links to one of the suicide bombers that wrecked the World Trade Centre. The US authorities sought his removal after confirming the fact that $100,000 were wired to WTC hijacker Mohammed Atta from Pakistan by Ahmad Umar Sheikh at the instance of Gen Mahmoud.

Senior government sources have confirmed that India contributed significantly to establishing the link between the money transfer and the role played by the dismissed ISI chief. While they did not provide details, they said that Indian inputs, including Sheikh’s mobile phone number, helped the FBI in tracing and establishing the link.

A direct link between the ISI and the WTC attack could have enormous repercussions.

The US cannot but suspect whether or not there were other senior Pakistani Army commanders who were in the know of things. Evidence of a larger conspiracy could shake US confidence in Pakistan’s ability to participate in the anti-terrorism coalition. Indian officials say they are vitally interested in the unravelling of the case since it could link the ISI directly to the hijacking of the Indian Airlines Kathmandu-Delhi flight to Kandahar last December.

Ahmad Umar Sayeed Sheikh is a British national and a London School of Economics graduate who was arrested by the police in Delhi following a bungled 1994 kidnapping of four westerners, including an American citizen. [quoted by Michel Chossudovsky]

In other words, India’s intelligence service had information about the money exchange that could implicate Bush and Co and was probably “blackmailing” the U.S.

Note added 2004: We also notice that India and Israel have been buddying up recently, so it is obvious that India’s blackmail is paying off.

According to the FBI files, Mohammed Atta was “the Lead Hijacker” and the “head conspirator.” They carefully avoided talking about General Ahmad or the ISI. And Western news articles also seem to have avoided the fact that Sheikh was a Brit with a degree in ECONOMICS.

But it seems that there was more to this little “link” than met the eye. Agence France Press confirmed the report:

A highly-placed government source told AFP that the “damning link” between the General [Mahmoud Ahmad] and the transfer of funds to Atta was part of evidence which India has officially sent to the U.S. “The evidence we have supplied to the U.S. is of a much wider range and depth than just one piece of paper linking a rogue general to some misplaced act of terrorism,” the source said. [ref. Michel Chossudovsky]

Whoa! Talk about your not-very-veiled threat here!

So, what happened to that awful General Ahmad who was having breakfast with Bob Graham, and then was caught paying money to Mohammed Atta? Was he a “rogue general” or a “double agent” who was chowing down on grits and eggs, biscuits and gravy, with that good ole boy Bob Graham, all the while he was using his cell phone to transfer the big payoff to the guys just down the road so they would get those jets fired up and on target?

Well, he was appointed to the position of Governor of Punjab. Nice cushy retirement for a job well done! And even though Pakistan apparently REWARDED their “rogue general,” the U.S. continues to scratch Pakistan’s back.

The Times of India wasn’t done playing cat and mouse with the U.S. On the 11th of October, Michel Chossudovsky points out that the following appeared:

Pakistanis are apt to snicker at the frequent Indian invocation of ISI for all its problems. But recent disclosures of the spy agency’s dirty tricks is earning it the mistrust of even its mentors in Washington. Following last week’s expose showing the money trail of the September 11 terrorist attacks leading to Pakistan with possible ISI connections comes the disclosure now that renegade ISI operatives visited Kandahar last month to help the Taliban prepare its defences and strategy against US attacks.

The clandestine visit, which came after the September 11 carnage, was reportedly made in defiance of military ruler Pervez Musharraf’s orders. It was this skunk works which resulted in the replacement of the ISI chief earlier this week, according to Ahmed Rashid, author of a well-received book on the Taliban.

“Senior retired army officers said Gen. Musharraf was infuriated when informed of the officers’ trip because it could have jeopardized Pakistan’s relations with the United States and Britain. There is no suggestion that Gen. Ahmad knew about the trip either, but he nevertheless resigned as ISI chief,” Rashid, whose work is highly respected in western circles, wrote in an article published simultaneously in London’s Daily Telegraph and The Washington Times. […]

Indian intelligence agencies have long mapped the ISI operations, ascribing to it everything from terrorism to drug-running, and even subverting Pakistan’s own democracy. Indian officials have also noted that several former ISI chiefs have been given important diplomatic assignments, including ambassadorships to key European countries, to enable Islamabad advance its nuclear program. Former ISI chiefs like Hamid Gul and Javed Nasir have grown old preaching the destruction of India and pontificating about its imminent collapse. […]

Washington has been far more credulous about the ISI and has frequently entertained both former and incumbent spymasters, evidently under the illusion that the maverick organisation is still beholden to the CIA for the close ties developed during the “golden” 1980s decade. That was when the two organisations worked hand in glove to arm the Afghan Mujaheddin (“Mooj” in CIA parlance) against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. […]

Although the two agencies fell out in the early 1990s amid reports of financial skullduggery by the ISI and a spat over weapons inventory, especially missing Stinger missiles, Washington continued to engage important Pakistani spooks. It was mandatory for all new ISI chiefs to pay their respects – in appearance at least – to Langley and Foggy Bottom, home of the CIA and the State Department respectively. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief chief spymaster Gen. Ziauddin was in Washington a fortnight before he (Sharief) was deposed and Musharraf’s chief spook Gen. Mahmoud Ahmed was also here on the day of the terrorist attack and he (Ahmed) was sacked thereafter. […]

Why the Bush administration continues to consort with the ISI, when there is probably enough material to proscribe it, is something of a mystery.

… federal authorities have told ABC News they have now tracked more than $100,000 from banks in Pakistan, to two banks in FLORIDA … some of that money came in the days just before the attack and can be traced directly to people connected to Osama bin Laden… the hijackers’ high commander, the money men, the planners and the mastermind…